Cleveland-Cliffs Announces Mill and Mine Closures, Impacting over 2,000 Workers Across 4 states

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Steel manufacturing giant Cleveland-Cliffs has announced it will idle multiple steel plants and iron ore mines, affecting thousands of workers across Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota. The company cites weak demand, financial losses and shifting trade policies as reasons for the closures.

The layoffs are the latest in a string of industrial layoffs in auto, manufacturing and logistics, as companies carry out massive job cuts to realign their business as part of Trumps trade war.

Workers can only oppose these closures and job cuts through the organization of rank-and-file committees as part of the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC) which seeks to unite workers throughout the world in struggle against the global corporate elite, their political henchmen and sellout union bureaucrats.

Last week, Cleveland-Cliffs reported first-quarter 2025 financial results showing a net loss of $495 million, significantly wider than the $67 million loss in the same period last year. The company’s revenues fell to $4.63 billion, missing analyst expectations of $4.64 billion. Steel prices were down 17 percent year-over-year.

In a statement CEO Lourenco Goncalves acknowledged that lower steel index prices and what he called underperforming “non-core” assets drove the heavy loses, and claimed a need to streamline operations to focus on its core automotive steel market.

Steel demand has fallen as both manufacturing and construction has cut back since the announcement of the 25 percent across-the-board tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. In response to the tariffs, manufacturers and importers increased shipments before they were implemented and are now utilizing those inventories.

Cleveland-Cliffs is shifting most of its production to provide for the auto industry, betting that the tariffs will increase demand for the light weight steel used in the auto industry.

The United Steelworkers, representing most of the affected workers, is collaborating with Cleveland-Cliffs as it undertakes industry realignment, focusing on preventing steelworkers’ opposition to the layoffs from developing into an open struggle against the steelmaker.

 Courtesy: www.wsws.org